Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) questions

[Aquarium1]

The power around here goes off quite a bit (including today when a transformer blew which also happened last year) so I was thinking I should invest in a UPS. I was wondering what would be one to look for that could hopefully last a few days, but at least 24 hours. I would only need it for my AquaClear 70 and My Top-fin 30-60. How many watts would you recommend? Which brand is best?

[roka64]

Go with the best one you can buy, especially if you are talking about power going out all day.
Just hook up yous PHs and possibly your filter for water movement.
Heaters and light will suck up the juice really fast (high wattage equipment).

[Aquarium1]

Originally Posted by roka64

Go with the best one you can buy, especially if you are talking about power going out all day.
Just hook up yous PHs and possibly your filter for water movement.
Heaters and light will suck up the juice really fast (high wattage equipment).

Yeah I was just going to plug in the filters. I have fw, so there's no PHs. How many watts would you recommend?

[roka64]

It depends on how much your filters use and how long the UPS will stay charged.

[Aquarium1]

Technically, couldn't you charge two ups(s) and use them one after the other, like rechargeable batteries? Btw, it would be two filters and charge it fully.

[Zer0]

Probably, but not for very long. The amount of wattage that it takes to charge up a good UPS, will surely be greater than what a second UPS would be able to put out. Everytime you charged them off of eachother you would get less and less power until eventually, you had so little, you wouldn't be able to charge the other UPS, then.. failure. If you want to go with two.. then i would say keep both charged.. and after you use the first one and it dies, just hook everything up to the second one. Also, if you charge batteries with less watts than what is actually needed to charge the whole thing, the batteries will get damaged. It's basically the same principal with computer batteries and ipod and cell phone batteries. The less time you charge it for, when it really needs to be fully charged, the more damage you will be doing to the battery. When batteries lose their charge, they are meant to be fully charged, to work correctly again. If not, you will be lessening their strength more and more over time.

As im sure we all know that overtime, rechargeable batteries begin to SUCK.. well by doing something like what your asking, for long periods of time, you will just be shortening the batteries life expectancy a whole lot faster than what it's meant to be.

[Aquarium1]

Originally Posted by Zer0

Probably, but not for very long. The amount of wattage that it takes to charge up a good UPS, will surely be greater than what a second UPS would be able to put out. Everytime you charged them off of eachother you would get less and less power until eventually, you had so little, you wouldn't be able to charge the other UPS, then.. failure. If you want to go with two.. then i would say keep both charged.. and after you use the first one and it dies, just hook everything up to the second one. Also, if you charge batteries with less watts than what is actually needed to charge the whole thing, the batteries will get damaged. It's basically the same principal with computer batteries and ipod and cell phone batteries. The less time you charge it for, when it really need to be fully charged, the more damage you will be doing to the battery. When batteries lose their charge, they are meant to be fully charged, to work correctly again. If not, you will be lessening their strength more and more over time.

As im sure we all know that overtime, rechargeable batteries begin to SUCK.. well by doing something like what your asking, for long periods of time, you will just be shortening the batteries life expectancy a whole lot faster than what it's meant to be.

I meant plug them up and charge them and use them individually after the power goes out until their power empties and then use the other charged one.

[Zer0]

Well then as i said previously, that would be your best option. Assuming that you want them to be fully operational the next time the power goes out and you need to use them.

[roka64]

No, you can't daisy chain the two together. It will drain them both. If there is power to them, they will stay charged, once the power fails you can use one and then switch it out when the 1st one is drained.

[Aquarium1]

Originally Posted by roka64

If there is power to them, they will stay charged, once the power fails you can use one and then switch it out when the 1st one is drained.

Thats what I was saying lol.

[roka64]

Cool.

[Aquarium1]

I might not be able to afford 2 for a while but one is better than none. What do you think about this one for 2 filters: OPTI-UPS ES1000C / 8-Outlet / 1000VA / 700Watt / UPS at TigerDirect.com How long would i last for my AquaClear 70 and my Top Fin 30-60?

[SparKy697]

UPS power is not cheap. You might be best served to figure out what you absolutely can not live without in the case of a power outage. Plug that stuff all into one power strip and buy one of those kill-o-watt meters to figure out what your power usage is for those devices. You can then go to a ups manufacturers web site like APC for example (my choice). They pretty much all have calculators that will tell you how long you can supply that load with each model... Then get the plastic out!

[Aquarium1]

Originally Posted by SparKy697

UPS power is not cheap. You might be best served to figure out what you absolutely can not live without in the case of a power outage. Plug that stuff all into one power strip and buy one of those kill-o-watt meters to figure out what your power usage is for those devices. You can then go to a ups manufacturers web site like APC for example (my choice). They pretty much all have calculators that will tell you how long you can supply that load with each model... Then get the plastic out!

I looked on some websites and my AquaClear uses 6w but Idk about the other one. I'll keep looking.

[Aquarium1]

I sent Aqua Tech an email asking them.

[SparKy697]

Take a look at this site APC Online Wizard

Guess at your filter and heater load.

[Aquarium1]

Originally Posted by SparKy697

Take a look at this site APC Online Wizard

Guess at your filter and heater load.

It only goes up to 9 hours

[SparKy697]

That's kind of my point. And look at what it would cost for you to power your stuff for 9 hours.....

[Aquarium1]

I might nerd it for days tho. What do you think about the one I picked out earlier? OPTI-UPS ES1000C / Outlet / 1000VA / 700Watt / UPS at TigerDirect.com

[Aquarium1]

Last year our power was out for 8 days.